A vet’s diary: accident and emergency
Peterborough vet Laura Frost tells the story of one special feline patient
In our practice, we see a large number of animals every week with all sorts of ailments. All the animals that come into the surgery are special in their own way (some are cheeky, some are loving and some are feisty). They are all remembered, but sometimes one particular case sticks in your mind – usually the one that has battled against the odds, or that you had to sit up with all night to get it through the worse of its illness. Three weeks ago a cat was rushed into the surgery after a road traffic accident. He had been found by a member of the public not far from his home. Luckily, he had the owner’s phone number on his collar and the owners were with him in a matter of minutes. They managed to gently lift him into a cat carrier and phone us to say they were on their way.
This article is a tribute to a brave and exceptionally tough cat that battled against the odds to survive. I speak for all the staff at Pengelly and Mizen in saying how fond we all are of you. It was a particularly handsome white cat that came in to the surgery. We could see straight away that he was struggling to breathe, in shock and in pain. He was swiftly given oxygen, pain relief and intravenous fluids to combat his shock while we gently checked for injuries. On closer inspection of his injuries, it appeared that his head had taken the blow from the car. No bones appeared to be broken and there was no serious bleeding. One of his eyes was badly damaged and his chunky tomcat cheeks were swollen. We knew straight away that he would need a general anaesthetic to properly treat his injuries, but he was too critical for an anaesthetic. We would need to do all we could to stabilise his condition so that he was strong enough to withstand the anaesthetic.
Two days later, some of the swelling had subsided and he was deemed more stable for his anaesthetic. He was managing to breathe without extra oxygen and was purring a little when given a fuss. Today was the day. Due to the trauma of the accident one of his eyes unfortunately had to be removed. His other was undamaged and we felt he would quickly adapt to life with one eye. He also had a feeding tube placed so that we could make sure that he was getting enough nutrition in his recovery. All was going well until he started to recover from his anaesthetic when he started to have difficulty breathing. The tissues of his throat had swollen so much that they were occluding his airway. There was no choice but to perform an emergency tracheostomy.
His airway was quickly re-established and this time his recovery was much better. Over the next few days he was lovingly nursed. His tracheostomy tube needed regular cleaning and he was fed a high energy liquid diet every two hours to help build him back up. It took 48 hours for his airways to clear, but soon he was breathing on his own. It took nearly another week for him to be confident to eat, starting slowly with a few tasty morsels fed by hand, until he remembered how good food tasted and started to tuck into bowls of soft food. He is now safely at home, enjoying lots of cuddles from his family and adapting well to life with one eye. After his long-term residence in the practice the cat ward just isn’t the same without him.
Laura Frost MRCVS MA VetMB is a vet at local veterinary practice Pengelly and Mize
Pengelly and Mizen Veterinary Surgeons 89-93 Park Road, Peterborough PE1 2TR T: 01733 554953 Emergencies only: 01733 896000
